Interface Utilization

Interface Utilization monitor provides performance and capacity measurements for network interfaces associated with the current device. Interface Utilization monitors are applied automatically to network devices.

Note: You can view Interface Utilization measurements, history, and trends using the RealTime Performance Monitor or the Interface Utilization Report.

Choose collection options for your Interface Utilization monitor:

Select the Protocol with which you want to collect data from the device. If your selection generates an error or WhatsUp Gold informs you the selected protocol may/will not work for the device, please choose an alternate protocol prior to saving your monitor configuration.
Use the menu provided to select which interface types should be monitored. You can choose to monitor All interfaces, Active interfaces, Specific interfaces, or Custom active interfaces. If you select any option other than All interfaces, enable the applicable checkbox(es) at left in the configuration dialog prior to saving your monitor configuration. If you select Custom active interfaces, use the additional controls which appear to select interfaces to monitor based on speed, name, or type. The following information is displayed for each interface:
- Interface. WhatsUp Gold gets the value for Interface from one-of-three fields. It typically uses the first non-blank field it finds in this order: ifAlias (administrator-assigned name), ifDescr (manufacturer and product name), ifName (name from the OS, for example "WLAN adapter 1"). Please note, a Null interface represents traffic discarded or generated by a router.
- Index. The numeric designator (typically ifIndex) of the individual interface for the selected device.
- Type. Interface type (typically ifType) object value returned.
- Speed. Nominal interface speed reported by the interface. This value is used for calculating interface capacity utilization.
- (Speed settings) If the nominal speed is different than the configured speed, constrained by factors surrounding the interface, or if it is simply unpopulated, you can define a custom value that WhatsUp Gold will use for reports and calculations.
  If nominal network interface speed used to calculate bandwidth capacity utilization is incorrect or unpopulated at the device's management object, you can define a custom speed using the Configure Interface Speed dialog.
  - Specify a custom speed for this interface. Click this check box to enable the In and Out text boxes.
  - In and Out. Define the speed of each traffic direction. WhatsUp Gold uses this value to calculate bandwidth capacity as a percentage of the total interface speed. Enter the upper limit of the interface in bps (bits per second). Common interface speeds expressed in bps are:
    - 1 Gbps = 1,000,000,000 bps
    - 100 Mbps = 100,000,000 bps
    - 10 Mbps = 10,000,000 bps
- Status. Ready state of the interface. Either of the following: Active / Inactive.
Enable the Collect errors and discards data for the selected interfaces option if you'd like WhatsUp Gold to retain and report on this information. This option is useful for debugging and visualizing incidents using the Interface Errors and Discards report.
Use the Polling interval (minutes) control provided to indicate how often you want data to be collected.
Expand the Advanced section of the dialog and use the controls provided to modify the Timeout (secs) and Retries settings, if desired.
Use the additional controls provided to specify how WhatsUp Gold should determine the uniqueness of interfaces; by Interface index or Interface description.
Lastly, use the menu provided to indicate how WhatsUp Gold should Poll interface traffic counters. You can choose Automatic detection, Standard 32-bit for wider support, or High-capacity 64-bit for fast interfaces.
Click OK to save your monitor configuration.